1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for linking data, and objects of varying kinds, whether electronic or physical or both.
2. Background Information
Various delivery companies offer services through which packages can be tracked and/or traced. In order to track a package, the intended recipient must first know that the package has been sent, and second have available the package identifier that is assigned to the package by the delivery company. The identifier may be assigned to the package when the package is presented to the company by the sender, or the identifier may be assigned through the use of a precoded delivery label that the sender fills out and attaches to the package. Using the package identifier, the intended recipient can check with the delivery service either by telephone or on-line, to determine where the package is currently located, when the package is scheduled for delivery, and so forth. If the package does not arrive on a scheduled date, the intended recipient must then go back on-line or again call the delivery company and, using the assigned identifier, check where the package is, if a new delivery date has been set, and so forth.
If the intended recipient is to receive packages from several companies, he or she must contact the respective senders to obtain the various identifiers, and then contact each delivery company to obtain the relevant delivery information. The recipient must thus keep track of the various package identifiers, the dates which companies are delivering the respective packages, and so forth. Further, as delivery dates change, the intended recipient must again contact the various companies, supply the appropriate identifiers, and ask the respective delivery company representatives or query the companies on-line to ascertain the new dates.
Catalog companies may send intended recipients e-mail messages to inform them of expected shipping and/or delivery dates for previously ordered articles. Each time a date changes for a particular order, however, the company must again send the intended recipient an e-mail message to inform him or her of the new date. The company may also inform the intended recipient of the current locations of the packages via e-mail messages, as a way of keeping the intended recipient informed of the expected delivery dates. The intended recipient must thus sort through the e-mail messages relating to various purchases and associate a given e-mail with a particular purchase in order to maintain an updated shipping and/or delivery schedule.
The sender must go through similar steps to trace the packages he or she has sent. If, for example, a particular package is not delivered by a scheduled deadline, the sender first has to learn of the problem and he or she then has to contact the delivery company with a package identifier and ask or query about the current location of the package and new expected delivery dates. Further, the sender has to again follow-up with the intended recipients and/or the delivery companies associated with the respective packages, to determine if the packages are delivered on the new dates, and so forth.